Merry Christmas

We’re taking a Christmas Break! In order to better enjoy our friends, family and the spirit of the Holiday Season, Sundog Media is going to be taking a Holiday break starting December 25th, and we’ll be back to regular office hours onJanuary 4th! We’ll still be checking our emails daily and will deal with any emergencies if they arise. So from our “team” to yours…have a very Happy Holiday Season!

Merry Christmas from Daniel, Gabriel, and Josiah! The triplets have arrived! Joe and Cathy were thrilled to count thirty  perfect little fingers and thirty tiny toes on December 3. Babies and mom (and dad too!) are in good health and happy to be home. More at alaskatriplets.com

The Triplets Have Arrived

On December 3rd the triplets arrived.

Top of the World Teaching

The Barrow, Alaska Ilisagvik College receptionist smiled and said “Tony will be here shortly to walk you to where you will be teaching your web class”. She then went on to say to be sure and watch out for Polar Bears as you cross to the outbuilding. To that, I asked her how fast Tony was yet, she misunderstood me and said he will be here shortly. So, I more emphatically asked – no, I mean how FAST is Tony. She smiled looked me over carefully and said she thought I could outrun him.

Located on the Chukchi Sea coast, Barrow is the northernmost community in the United States. With a population of over 4,000 people and a topography that looks like a white version of Mars movies I had seen, it truly felt surreal as I settled into my classroom. As the class attendants started to show up, I busied myself getting my presentation setup on the computer and mentally began to prepare to teach.

I had been invited to teach this class by Jason Evans with Alaska Growth Capital as part of a contest for ASRC members that would give the winners $24 thousand to use towards successful business plans, which would have a positive impact on the community. At first, I was hesitant as I do not have a lot of speaking experience; however, the opportunity to see a new part of Alaska combined with my desire to stretch my self prevailed and I jumped on the opportunity.

Several months before the class I realized I better get started prepping for the class and I was confronted with the reality of “how do I take the 13 years business experience I have building Sundog Media – a website development and print design company, and break it down in a way to offer the best value to those attending?”

My first day went fair, but that night I realized I needed to change the format of my class to be less informational and more relevant to the dreams and business plans of those attending. With that in mind, on Day 2 I had everyone put their name and business name (even if they did not have one yet) on a large sheet in front of them. Now, instead of teaching to a class of people, I simply could think of each person as the owner of a business who I was talking to individually. I immediately felt more at ease and connected with the people and the topic. After all, I have been meeting with business owners for well over a decade and sharing what I know about how to use web and print in helping them market themselves and grow their company. With actual businesses ideas and dreams to share the class, I immediately became more engaged in the process and by the end of the workshop, I felt like each of the attendants had a plan of attack to move forward with their own dreams using the information that I had shared with them.

As I flew home to Anchorage over the frozen tundra, I wondered what it would be like to live where you can only get to by plane or driving across a frozen ocean, if you are brave enough. Just the shear vastness and isolation of the area makes the connectivity of the Internet a more relevant need for the residents. Although the topography and culture are much different than where I live in Anchorage or across much of the United States, the dreams of the people are the same and the power of the internet to get your message out to the world – be it a Bed and Breakfast or a site for selling native art – the web is a great equalizer and tool.

What is Joomla?

(And why you’ll want it too!)

What is Joomla?

The new Sundog Media website is live! And it’s powered by Joomla, one of the most effective and easy-to-use content management systems (CMS) available. Its ease-of-use and extensibility have made this award-winning website software the most popular in its class. Check out Joomla’s long list of impressive features!

Your website can have it too!

Joomla makes maintaining your website effortless, whether you are a total beginner or an IT professional. This powerful, flexible system lets you painlessly edit, delete, update, and add content to your existing pages, or create new pages–without having to pay a designer.

Joomla keeps track of every piece of content on your site, much like your local public library keeps track of books and stores them. Content can be simple text, photos, music, video, documents, or just about anything you can think of. Since the CMS manages all your content, you don’t have to.

How to get started:

We have three easy ways for you to get started on your Joomla-powered site: 1 Visit our website and fill out a web project planner, 2 Choose from one of our great web packages, or 3 Just give us a call! We look forward to hearing from you.

What is Your Chuck E. Cheese?

In 2008, I installed a pull up bar at the entrance to the stairway of my office.  My simple goal was to be able to crank out 10 pull ups without stopping; not too impressive I realize, but a person has to have a goal.  My 7 year old son, Caleb, immediately gave it a try and was able to crank out 3 in a row.  Later that day I heard him begging, “Mom, can we go to Chuck E. Cheese?”  This was pretty persistent throughout the day so… we came up with his goal, if he did one thousand pull-ups, then he could go to Chuck E. Cheese.  1,000 Mind you!  Caleb immediately sat down and with Cathy’s help, produced a bar graph to keep track of his progress.  He proceeded to crank out pull-ups as often as he could get one of us to lift him up onto the bar.  Eventually, we got so tired of being begged to lift Caleb up to the bar, we set a stool next to it so he could get up on his own.  Amazingly, he proceeded to do 1,000 pull ups in 4 days; at 7 years old.  That is a real big desire to go to Chuck E. Cheese!

This story has been circulated around to many of my friends and colleagues, now people that know the story commonly question - What Is Your Chuck E. Cheese?  Have you thought about this?  What motivates you, causes you to aspire to greater things, inspires you to do things that you normally would not have even begun, much less accomplished?  Caleb’s example struck a chord with me;  I realized that it is crucial for each of us to learn and understand what our “Chuck E. Cheese” is.

So, if you have read this far, you might be asking, “What the heck does this have to do with Sundog Media and their blog?”   My answer is.. just thought I would share a little about some of the “Chuck E. Cheeses” I have for this company… what motivates me, what is it that I hope motivates and represents the team members of this company.

Here Goes:

•  Being a part of and growing a company that puts family first.

•  Producing brilliant work that helps our customers succeed.

•  Creating more “LIFE” for everyone who comes in contact with us.

•  Constantly learning and stretching my skills and knowledge within my field.

•  Building a company that is amazing to work for.

•  Working with great clients and growing meaningful relationships.

•  And of course…  Who am I kidding?  Earning enough gas money for our boat, the “Sundog”.

So, I am about up to 8 pull-ups in a row now and we’ve raised Caleb to 2000 pull- ups per Chuck E. Cheese visit, it was getting too expensive buying the pizza and tokens.  So take a moment and ask yourself.

What is Your Chuck E. Cheese??!!! And if you like Chuck E. Cheese, this hyperlink will direct you to coupons!

Cheers,

Joe Law
Sundog Media: President